Mind has no form. Self has no form. Buddha has no form. When you shine the light back, you see that. Mind has no form. Self has no form. Buddha has no form. And body and mind of themselves drop off. Actually you see that they already always were dropped off. All day long, let that light turn around and shine on this capacity of the mind to imagine. Including again, renouncing the desire to be able to do this.

[01:06]

Excuse me. In two ways. Please excuse me for, first of all, being somewhat sectarian in the sense of feeling like bringing in the interdisciplinary scientific study of the self in modern psychobiological, neurophysiological studies. Excuse me for... or some feeling I have that that's not the essence of Dharma. But really another part of me says, excuse me, because I do think it's Buddhism in action. There's one thing that I thought was particularly relevant in this new science of studying the self, and I wanted to spring it up at this time. The psychologist says, only when the child is capable of objectifying her imaging activity.

[02:45]

Only when the child is capable of externalizing her imaging activity can she become aware of both the activity of imagining and of herself as the imager. First, when we're little, we imagine. We have this uninterrupted mind which can imagine, which has the activity of imagining. And the time comes in our development when we can objectify this activity of imagining and see the activity of imagining and also us as the imaginer. Only when you can objectify the activity of imagining and see yourself as the imaginer.

[03:49]

Objectifying the activity of imagining is what? What's that? Huh? What? It's seeing an image. You see something out there. That's objectifying. It's actually, there's not... This is psychology, right? They're telling you the activity of imagining is an activity of imagining. It's not something out there. You're imagining something. When you objectify, you think that there's an image out there. Get that? This is mind only in psychology. Objectifying an activity in your mind, that means you see it out there. And then you also feel like there's an imager in here. And the child learns to do that.

[04:50]

They objectify a mental activity and think it's outside themselves. So there's the imagined and the imaginer. This is right out of Vasubandha. This is how the self is created. And that's what it says here. This ability creates the self. And the self is in parentheses, just like in Dogen. There isn't really a self. It's quote self. Just like Dogen says, to carry the self and meet things is, quote, delusion. So I'm happy that the interdisciplinary scientific study of the self has come up with such a perfect rendition of, you know, what is it, third century Buddhist psychology.

[06:00]

Mahayana Buddhist psychology. This ability creates the self and a differentiation of objects that are not self, that is an external world. This is how it happens. If we turn around now and look at that capacity, that activity of imagining, which you can't see, this whole process of creating a self is illuminated and drops away. So I'd like to just continue with this story, Case 32. Okay, and if people want to ask questions, should I take the question now or should I do the story?

[07:05]

Too bad. Maybe later. Okay, so what happened? The monk comes to see Yangshan. Yangshan says, where do you come from? He says, I come from Yu province. In other words, I come from this dialogue with my mother where I was able to gradually objectify my imaging process. Okay? So then Yang Chan said, do you think of that place where you come from? He says, I always think of it. And then Yang Chan says, thinker is the mind and the thought of is the X. Character can mean object, image, environment, and meaning.

[08:10]

Artha in Sanskrit. Then he says, therein, in other words, in the realm of the externalized, objectified capacity of imagination. In the realm of what's thought of, there are mountains, rivers, land masses, pavilions, people, male and female, animals, domesticated and wild, and so on. In other words, the whole universe is in this objectified imagination. Then he says, reverse your thought and think of the thinking mind. In other words, think of the uninterrupted mind.

[09:13]

In other words, make your mind like a wall. Then there's this line I told you about. In the text, it's about a fourth of an inch long. But if you blow it up, it can be many, many miles long. We don't know if it's a second, a mile, 400 miles, months, or years. But anyway, after that instruction, reverse your thought and think of the thinker. Think of the imaginer. think of the capacity to imagine. Are there many things there in the capacity? And the monk says, when I get here, I don't find anything at all. And I see

[10:21]

partly by what follows in the story. Maybe I'll say the rest of the story. Then he says, then Yangshan says, after the monk says, I don't see anything, existence, any existence at all. Then Yangshan said, this is right for the stage of conviction, or the stage of faith. But it's not yet right for the stage of the person. Oh, then the monk said, don't you have any other particular way of guidance? And Yangshan said, to say that I have anything in particular or not wouldn't be accurate. Based on this insight, you get one mystery. You get a seat,

[11:23]

and erode. From now on, see on your own. Going back to what the monk said, when I get here, I don't see anything at all. There's two phases of this, not seeing anything at all. One is that when you turn around and look at the capacity to imagine, you don't see anything. You can't see the capacity to imagine. You can't see the faculty of imagination. It's like looking at a person's face. You cannot see their capacity to see. You can see the eyeball, and if you took the eyeball away, they wouldn't be able to see. But you can't see their ability to see. It's a material capacity or faculty, but you can't see it

[12:24]

In the same way, you cannot see the mental capacity to imagine or to think. So when the monk first turns, when you first turn to look at this capacity, you can't see anything at all. You can't see anything existing there. So he could have said that. But if he'd said that, Yangshan wouldn't have said, this is right for this stage of faith. he would have just said, you're getting on to shamatha now. The monk might have said the same thing when he first started practicing shamatha. But he wasn't talking about that. He was talking about after he looked and couldn't see anything. And then he was continuously with this looking and not being able to see anything. He then was able to naturally join this continuous observation of the uninterrupted mind.

[13:35]

It naturally joined then with the ongoing process of seeing images, of meditating on images. So one part of the mind is looking at the continuous uninterrupted mind, the other part of the mind is looking at the objectified imagining. When those two become united, then you have mental one-pointedness. Now the objects are seen, but supported by this stabilization, and they're seen for what they are, namely, They're just mind. And when they're seen this way, this is the miracle of vision, and suchness comes in. And when suchness comes in, then you again don't see anything existing at all. It's the second not seeing anything existing at all

[14:36]

that he's talking about here when he says, I don't see anything existent at all. That's why Yangshan said, this is right for the stage of faith. In other words, you have been convinced that there are no external phenomena, that everything is just your mind. In other words, you have realized emptiness. You have understood suchness. This is a success story. However, it's not the full thing. He gets a robe and he gets a bowl. Just like we all got a robe and a bowl. But then he had to go. Where is he going?

[15:39]

He's going to see on his own now. Do I have any further guidance for him? To say that I do or that I don't wouldn't be accurate. He has to see on his own. In other words, bodhisattva now has to re-engage in existence. It doesn't see any existence. You have to go back and see it again. You have to go back into the five skandhas. You have to go back into the pain. You have to go back into the square dance. You have to see form and understand that it's just a mass of foam. You have to feel feelings and know that they're just illusions. and so on. You go back into the five aggregates, knowing that they're illusions, but not disowning them, not degrading them, intimately flowing in the world again.

[16:53]

This monk didn't say that. So he just got one mystery, and he got a robe and a bowl, but he didn't get a room. It's a robe, a bowl, and a room. What's the room? The room is where the sentient beings are. It's where the five skandhas are. It's where the bodhisattva re-engages after realizing emptiness. So, a later Zen master gave A different answer at that point. He said, crossing the summit of the mystic peak. It's not the human world. Outside of the mind, there are no things. Outside of things, there is no mind.

[17:55]

Filling the eyes are blue mountains. I think that's enough babbling from me. So please, you know, trust everything to sitting upright, breathing in and breathing out and leap into the light. of the uninterrupted mind. Your self will be illuminated and body and mind of themselves will drop away. So you got the compassion, you got your bodhicitta, now you need realization.

[19:08]

Bodhicitta is, I resolve to realize the Buddha body. I want to help people fully, therefore I wish to realize the Buddha body. In order to realize the Buddha body, bodhisattvas have to meditate. They have to jump into this light. They have to jump into the ungraspable mind and realize the ungraspable Buddha body. So, we have a few more days of nothing to do but that. But after that, we have the rest of our life. So, you know, fasten your safety belts and get ready for this not to stop at the end of session. But now, get a good start. so that you can continue turning the light around and shining it back on the uninterrupted mind all through the summer, all through the fall, and into the endless future, that you can continue this practice until you realize the Buddha body.

[20:37]

I'm so happy that you have compassion. You do, I know you do. And I know not all of you have been struck by lightning of this bodhicitta, but be patient. In the meantime, start this practice ahead of time so that when it strikes you can go right to work. But some of you have this mind, but we all need to to realize this truth. That's what I think, believe it or not. And attract ourself to this very hard work There's this book called Minding the Mind.

[21:56]

Maybe you've seen it. And one of the people in there is Daoshin's disciple, Hong Ren, the fifth ancestor of Zen. And after many, many paragraphs, at the end of the paragraph he says, work hard, explanation mark. Work hard. And then the next word is diligently blah, blah, blah. And remember, diligently, the root of the word is lovingly devoted to. Work hard in a loving way at this practice. Do your part of the Mahayana. Hold up your end of the deal. I know it's hard, but there it is. You have this opportunity. And so do I.

[23:01]

I'm in awe of the Bodhisattva vehicle, but I'm also very happy that I have been exposed to it and have a chance to make my little efforts. And I'm very happy for you that you've been exposed to it and you have a chance too. Are you happy for yourself? And by the way, you know, if you get depressed at looking at the mountain of the bodhisattva practices, it's okay to go over and, you know, play on a little mound of dirt for a while. It's okay to, you know, to recover from your depression at thinking, oh my God. So, you know, if you feel really like totally frustrated and incompetent and meditating on an imageless, objectless mind of turning your attention to this thing which you can't get a hold of, if you feel depressed about it, go work on something you can get a hold of.

[24:27]

When I was a little boy, I used to play in the dirt. And in fact, I didn't, I used to play with little trucks in the dirt. I used to play in the dirt and push trucks around in the dirt. I don't know, I just, I like to do that for some reason. But I particularly like to do it on hills, little mounds of dirt. And in my years of practicing in this monastery, I often, when I would be digging, you know, I did a lot of digging here. When I'd be digging, I would often think of when I was a little boy, digging in the dirt is very similar to pushing little trucks over the hills and stuff. And you can do that. You can get ahold of the little truck, put your little hand around the truck and put it on the dirt. Take ahold of that shovel and stick it in there and dig that dirt. You can reach down and make a little dent in the dirt with your hand, make a little pile.

[25:39]

Then you stop, then you won't be so depressed. And then when you feel more relaxed, then turn around and look at what you can't see. The source of your mind. You know, they can take your trucks away and your dirt away and your shovel and your spade and your arms and your legs, but they can't take the uninterrupted mind away from you. Okay, ready for another day of hard work? Are you enthusiastic about another day of hard work? Another day of patience with your pain? Don't be afraid to say yes.

[26:43]

And don't be afraid to say no. Whoever took those owls, please come and confess. Yes? You think you ate one? We got one down. One confession and I'll give you a reward. Come to my house. Oops. Yes? Please? Okay. Do you forgive them too? He's working. Okay. Yes. Yes, kitchen worker. I ate half of Linda's and I ate half of someone else's. This is Buddhism in action. Yes. This is like, you know, reenacting the ancient scene.

[27:50]

You know, we do this, you know, this group confession all my age. It's just, this is what it used to be like. Where the monk would actually say, I ate an owl. Precisely half an owl. My God, I never thought it would happen. Yes. Martin. No, you have to tell the truth, Martin. Maybe something else you did, you could tell me about it. I was specifically speaking about people who really hate Yahweh's. But that's great, isn't it? I can't believe this. I should say that there were 10 owls, right? Yeah. And they were not all of the same quality. We had three people working on this project, and I would say that there were five that were really superb.

[28:55]

And it was those five that were taken. So the people who took these owls actually combed the world. They picked out the best owls. Well, maybe they didn't comb through. Maybe they just, you know, had this kind of like artistic touch and just grabbed it. but Brooks and I are working on this together and you know when you said that's 1.5 I thought you meant that's 1.5 in terms of like from 1 to 10 that's what I thought you meant but you meant 1 to 10 in terms of accounting for the owls for the 5 owls so we got 3 and a half owls more to account for what? what? That was two owls? That's two owls. So you have three more to account for. And Martin was willing to confess, but he didn't actually do it.

[29:59]

But there are a few kitchen workers missing. Well, I'm here, but I didn't do this. OK, OK. Well. I think that was about two owls. Anyway, if I was going to rate my happiness at your practice from one to ten, it wouldn't be one and a half. It would be more around eleven. So thank you very much, and please consider enthusiastically practicing this bodhisattva vehicle for the rest of your life. May I engage them.

[31:00]

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